Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa <> ILR questions

Dear Mods,

I hope you are well. I would first like to thank all of you and congratulate you on your great work and helping hundreds of confused immigrants

Brief
1. We are an entrepreneurial team first given visas in April 2019 and entered the UK on 05 May 2019
2. We invested in an existing company as a director's loan
3. Our extension was granted in November 2022 (extension applied in June 2022 & biometric given in August 2022) on the basis of a net increase of 2 jobs in the company
4. The company is a tech company and has been trying to raise funds for some time and is behind in payments to HMRC and pensions

Questions
1. As the initial visa was granted in April 2019 but we entered on 05 May 2019 - the 5-year period will count from which date? April or May?
2. My dependent (whose visa was granted in April 2019) entered the country in May 2019 to collect her BRP but went back to our home country to resign from her job, serve a notice period, etc., and permanently shifted to the UK in September 2019. When will her 5-year period be completed?
3. As mentioned above, the company is behind payments to HMRC & pensions. We are trying to raise funds to make all the statutory payments but if the company fails to do so, can this cause a problem in our ILR?
4. There are 3 employees who started work b/w January - May 2022 and now have completed one year with the company and hopefully will stay with the company till November 2023. These 3 employees were not counted in our initial extension application as they hadn't completed one year when we applied for our extension. Can we count them now in our ILR application as joined much after our investment, completed more than one year, and stayed with the company during the duration of our extension i.e. Nov 2022 - Nov 2023?
5. If the main applicants shift to a T2 SKW visa, will our time spent on a T-1 Entrepreneur visa count towards our 5-year continuous period and we can still apply for ILR next year? If so, how to prove the time spent on the T1 Ent visa, and will we still require any documents from the company while filing ILR holding a T2 visa?

Looking forward to your valuable input.

Thank you

1. The 5 year period starts from date of award (April) though the period from April to May counts towards absent days calculation.
2. Still April.
3. It shouldn't
4. As long as these jobs are Net increase (for example they were not replacement for employees who were there before you invested) and they are there for 12 months in the extension period, they will count. When they started is irrelevant.
5. Yes, it will count. Nothing needed to prove. HO obviously knows how long you have had the T1E visa

Hi @marcnath

Thank you for your prompt response. I have a couple of more queries, please

1. As our initial visa was granted in April 2019, for purposes of absent days calculation- a year will be counted as April - April for us?
2. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa, will we have to resign from the directorship of the present company before applying for the visa or we can resign once the visa has been granted?
3. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa sometime in January 2024 (our current visa is till Nov 2024) and the T2 visa is not granted in March/April 2024 - we will still continue on a T1 visa till Nov 2024?
4. Are there any 90-day financial requirements similar to extension applications where the applicants have to produce their 90-day bank statements with a min balance?

Thank you

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:40 am

Hi @marcnath

Thank you for your prompt response. I have a couple of more queries, please

1. As our initial visa was granted in April 2019, for purposes of absent days calculation- a year will be counted as April - April for us?
2. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa, will we have to resign from the directorship of the present company before applying for the visa or we can resign once the visa has been granted?
3. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa sometime in January 2024 (our current visa is till Nov 2024) and the T2 visa is not granted in March/April 2024 - we will still continue on a T1 visa till Nov 2024?
4. Are there any 90-day financial requirements similar to extension applications where the applicants have to produce their 90-day bank statements with a min balance?

Thank you

1. The year is calculated back from your ILR application date. So, if you apply in April, it is April to April. If you apply in July, it will be July to July and so on.
2.Good question. Strictly speaking you can't be a Director with the T2 SKW visa so at least for a few days, you may be violating the conditions of your T2 visa. Not sure if HO will care about a few days but ..
3. Yes, you current visa will continue to be valid until a new one is granted
4. No